The use of music therapy in reducing anxiety on patients attending accident and emergency department

Abstract

In Hong Kong, there has about 70% patients who attend Accident and Emergency Department (AED) is categorized as semi- or non-urgent cases. The medical conditions with the relative longer waiting time provoke the anxiety level. Furthermore the anxiety is worsen by the noisy waiting environment. These phenomena not only affect the psychological but also the physiological changes of patients. Therefore, there is a need to develop an evidence-based intervention that can effectively reduce the anxiety level during the waiting time. The music intervention is proposed to be implemented to reduce the anxiety in the AED setting as this intervention has been proven with a significant anxiolytic effect in variety of healthcare setting.

This dissertation is a translational research that aims to identify the advantages or music intervention, develop an evidence-based practice (EBP) guideline for health care providers, and design an evaluation plan for evaluating the protocol effectiveness. The transferability and feasibility of the literature were high. The target setting is one of the AEDs in Hong Kong and the music intervention can be given in cubicle or waiting room by using Mp3 or speakers respectively. The music album is preferably chosen by patients and the intervention last for about 30-60 minutes.

An implementation plan for pilot testing was developed to trying out the guideline and to reduce the potential problems during implementation. Comprehensive evaluation plans on stakeholders were developed. This dissertation contributes to develop an evidence-based protocol for healthcare-providers to follow and demonstrate in real situation.